European cops arrested 15 suspected scammers and shut down a multi-country network of call centers selling fake cryptocurrency that law enforcement said stole upwards of hundreds of million euros from victims.
The scammers tricked their victims into investing large sums of money into fake cryptocurrency schemes according to Europol, which became involved in the investigation in June 2022 at the behest of German law enforcement agencies.
The criminals advertised these phony investment opportunities on social media, luring the victims to websites that were controlled by the miscreants that promised too-good-to-be-true crypto investment opportunities. The crooks first convinced the victims to invest low, three-digit sums. Then, using the lure of fake price hikes and lucrative profits, the criminals enticed their victims to transfer larger amounts.
Most of the victims were from Germany, and the scammers bilked these individuals alone out of more than €2 million ($2.2 million), according to the police. However, others in Switzerland, Australia and Canada also lost money in the scam.
“The investigation suggests that the number of unreported cases is likely…
